Monday, May 20

Everett is the only grandbaby/nephew on my side of the family so far, so as you can imagine, he has been getting the FULL TREATMENT lately. The family activity planning has gone something like this:

Let's go to the splash pad, Everett would love it!Has he ever had ice cream before? We should go get him some.No, let's not go to that park, they don't have baby swings.There's a carousel over there, do you think he would like it?

I mean, truly! The red carpet has been rolled. It's been so fun to share him with my family these past few weeks. To watch him bond so unexpectedly with my little brother, the very first teenager he's ever loved. I have a feeling it's because they've recognized a kindred oldness in each other. At 13-years-old my brother likes to study quantum physics and write constitutions like a vernacular poet, for new countries that he's imagined founding in his spare time. {Seriously.} And anything he does makes Everett laugh. Like peas in a pod, those two.

This last Saturday? Friday? The days are blending together. We headed out to the park, and picked up some ice cream from Wendy's on the way. My siblings are die-hard, dip-your-french-fries-in-your-frosty, frosty fans. And I could eat waffle cones by themselves all day long, so we were all on board with their newest frosty/waffle-cone marriage.

I will say it once, I'll say it a hundred times. Cheesy as it may be, having that Everett around turns everything into an adventure, a rediscovery of childhood, a reminder that I will probably never feel too old to jump on the swings and match my back-and-forth with his back-and-forth . Summer, we are coming for you! We are coming for you with a toddler and pool floaties, picnic blankets, and sidewalk chalk, dirty knees and messy ice cream faces.